Gryffindors Are the Brave Ones
by Bell Witch
Summary: New Year's Eve at Hogwart's, and there is mischief afoot.


**Characters: **Harry and his generation, mostly DA members. OFC, Dumbledore, Snape, and some others.

**Disclaimer: **Not mine. Belong to JK Rowling, movies to Warner Bros. No money made. Done for the New Year challenge at obscurus patronus-the main idea there was to have fun.

**Spoilers: **Lots for OotP.

**Archive/Notes:** Written for Obscurus Patronus New Year's Challenge 2004/2005, so before HBP came out. There's a link to it on my LiveJournal http/ to Madamme Cerise for doing the beta on this for me. The praise goes straight to my head, unfortunately. ValetGirl did another bit of beta. Finished 13 December 2004.

This is for the New Years drive. I took the challenge word mistletoe. There's also a sexy red dress and (sort of) a public declaration of vague interest, if not love. I'm really new at this, so whaddaya want?

xXxXxXx

The dance floor was quite crowded, and people kept bumping into Ron as he danced with Hermione. Finally, he'd gotten her away from Viktor Krum. _Just pen-pals _she says. Hah!

Dumbledore thought that it would be a good idea to have the New Year's dance to help improve morale at Hogwarts._The Daily Prophet _had finally acknowledged Lord Voldemort's return this past June, and many wizarding families had been in a state of near panic ever since.

_A year late, but at least they know now, _Dumbledore thought as he watched from the safety of the high table, drinking mulled cider and smiling. Occasionally, he made comments to the other teachers sitting at the table. He'd danced once with Minerva McGonagall. She was now making rounds just outside the main hall. The students were supposed to be at the dance, not snogging outside, and the professors took turns checking to see how many couples were trying to defy the order and get some private time in.

The teachers also took shifts watching over the dancers in an attempt to keep fights from breaking out. With the large number of Death Eater arrests made at the Ministry of Magic, not a few students were now sending owls to their parents at Azkaban. The children of those imprisoned had constantly threatened the six Hogwarts students who had been there. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were used to it by now. Ginny Weasley and Neville Longbottom had a harder time of it, but Luna Lovegood really didn't seem to notice. So far, nothing untoward had occurred this evening, even the usual glare-fest with accompanying snide comments that normally existed between Potter's friends and Malfoy's was thankfully absent.

Madam Hooch sat along one wall, a slight frown on her face. The professor manning the opposing wall wore more than a slight frown-Snape scowled.

He had been more than willing to walk outside and terrify those unfortunate pairs who happened to wander off for a bit of privacy on his watch. Even sitting at the table wasn't so awful-Snape could mentally tick off lists of potions ingredients he had yet to replace. It was the sitting near the students and actually having to watch them that grated on his nerves.

_One minute after midnight and I'm leaving. _The other, more cooperative professors could accommodate Dumbledore and watch over the sweating, gyrating mass of students for the remaining hour of the festivities._I will be going to bed. _

The music changed: the band slowed things down a bit. Ron Weasley pled with Hermione Granger-it apparently was enough to convince her to stay with him for just this one more dance and not return to Krum, who stood near the edge of the dance floor talking about quidditch with Potter. Cho Chang, determinedly _not_ looking at Potter, dragged her fellow Ravenclaw Michael Corner to the centre of the dancers, bumping against Dean Thomas who towered over Ginny Weasley, his partner. Dean turned round and saw who it was had run into him, and ignored her. He said something to Ginny, who giggled.

_Still one hour to go_. At least his turn monitoring the students would soon be over.

Hufflepuff prefect Ernie Macmillan thanked Padma Patil for dancing with him. She wandered off to a group of students of varied houses who seemed to be spending a lot of time together this year. Macmillan moved towards one of the chairs lining the wall. The shadows were deep enough that he didn't see black-robed Snape until he was right next to him.

"Um, sorry, Professor Snape," the boy said politely, "I didn't realize that, um, these chairs were taken." Snape's lip curled slightly in response and Macmillan backed away, his eyes slightly alarmed. He followed in Padma's wake.

Snape sighed, the barest exhalation. Only the one chair was being used. Not, he told himself, that he wanted anyone to sit with. Still, you'd think some of the students from his own house would acknowledge his presence. The other Heads of House had students greet them. Sprout even had had an invitation to dance- declined, of course-but made just the same.

His house was having a bad year. The children of Death Eaters sent to Azkaban were all Slytherins. He showed them no more mercy than he ever did, although he knew he was far easier on those in his own house than on others. That didn't mean he still wasn't vicious in his remarks or brutal in assigning homework, however. One had an image to maintain.

Giggling from the group in the corner, which had expanded to include the previously dancing Weasleys and their partners as well as the Hufflepuff quidditch player Zacharias Smith.

Detestable things, children. Ignorant and arrogant, the lot of them.

Five minutes ticked by. Would this torment never end?

xXx

"It's true, I saw it too," Susan Bones told Ron.

"I don't believe it." He looked past her, squinting up at the wall over Snape's head.

"What's true?" Harry asked. His question inspired a giggle fit by several girls who had been in the defense against the dark arts group he'd led the previous year. It had been a real success, and the members had remained close through the new term. Only quidditch rivalries were as they had been; otherwise the members of the different houses mixed fairly freely.

"There's a sprig of mistletoe on the wall over there," Macmillan pointed, "right over top of Professor Snape's head. Well, a couple of metres up, really."

"How didthathappen?" Harry asked, amazed.

Seamus Finnigan snorted. "If Ron's brothers were still here, I'd be almost certain it was them."

"But they aren't here, are they?" Hermione said. She looked thoughtful. "I wonder how long it's been there?"

"It must have been done after he sat down. He wouldn't have chosen that chair if it had been there," Harry reasoned.

"Anyone seen Peeves?"

"Why does everyone blame Peeves for everything?" Ron asked, oddly defensive. Peeves had been missing Fred and George ever since their hurried departure the year before, and decided to pay extra attention to the remaining Weasleys in hopes of perhaps inspiring them to mischief. It was mostly annoying, but Ron enjoyed listening to the Poltergeist tell stories of the things he got up to over the years and how impressed he'd been with the twins' inspired level of pranking. The bit with the fireworks had him waxing rhapsodical for hours.

"Because he's usually guilty, I'd say," Ginny answered her brother's question. "And I haven't seen him about all evening."

"Me neither," said Neville Longbottom. "Kind of strange, isn't it?"

They agreed that it was strange that the normally fun-loving spirit would choose to be away from all the noise and light.

"Then who put it there?" Parvati asked. Nobody knew.

"Put what where?" Luna Lovegood had wandered over. Her normally straggly hair had been tamed for the evening, and was piled in an odd, elaborate arrangement on top of her head.

"Mistletoe over Snape's chair," Ginny explained.

"Ah." Luna looked round the group. "Well?"

"We don't know who did it, Luna," Ron said, exasperated.

"Not that. It doesn't really matter, does it? I mean, who's going to do it?"

"Do it? Do what?" Dean asked. He'd been seeing Ginny since end of last term, and Ginny was friends with Luna. She seemed pleasant enough, but her peculiar manner was difficult to relate to most of the time.

"Who is going to kiss Professor Snape?"

"Ewww!" several voices chorused.

"What?" Luna asked, obviously confused.

"Kiss Professor Snape? That's horrid!" Katie Bell exclaimed, her nose wrinkling in distaste.

"I don't think so."

"You don't?" the girls were uncertain and the boys listened intently. What could even Loony Luna see in Professor Snape?

"I think intelligent men are attractive," Luna explained, oblivious to the groans her words caused.

"Then_you _can go kiss him," Parvati said.

"I think not." Luna looked round the group. "Not that I wouldn't, but he is a professor. My father wouldn't approve, and he's all I have."

"There_had _to be one person that Luna was willing to act normal for, I suppose," Ron muttered.

Parvati and Padma were poking each other, each daring her twin to go kiss Snape.

"You're a prefect," Parvati said, "so you can do it."

"Gryffindors are the brave ones, right?" Padma returned, "So you can do it!"

A disgusted snort broke in. Draco Malfoy, flanked by his goons Crabbe and Goyle, stood sneering into the circle.

"What is it that you're all scared of, then? Bet I could deal with it like_that_. " He snapped his fingers.

"Two galleons says you can't," Ron stated loudly.

"You haven't got two galleons, Weasley. Anyway, I don't need money. I'd do it just to show you all up."

"Promise?" Ernie Macmillan said, an unusually sneaky look on his face.

Suddenly Malfoy looked less sure of himself. But if Potter was afraid to do it…still, he ought to ask first.

"I'll promise when you tell me what it is you're saying I won't do. Then, when I do it, you'll realize how superior I am."

Hermione stepped forward. "Really?"

"Oh, this should be good. The mudblood's challenging me."

The entire group bristled, and Crabbe and Goyle looked terrified. They stuck with Malfoy so that the three of them could intimidate others-that's what Malfoy paid them for. Facing a group of twenty or so was not what they signed on to do at all.

"Not challenge, Draco," she said in what she knew was her bossiest, most annoying voice. She collected herself and began what sounded suspiciously like a lecture. "Dare. And, since you don't even know what we were talking about, I'll tell you. We were wondering at first how the sprig of_mistletoe _," she emphasized the word, "got on the wall above Professor Snape's chair, and who put it there. You interrupted our discussion of just who it was that was going to kiss him. So that's the dare."

Draco's face fell. "You want me to kiss P…Professor Snape?"

Hermione nodded

"You did say you'd do it," Harry said, smirking at the boy he'd disliked before he'd even got to Hogwarts.

"Yah, we all heard you," grinned Ron.

Malfoy crumbled like the proverbial sand castle at high tide. He backed off, stepping on Crabbe's foot before turning and almost running away. He glanced back over his shoulder as he went. Crabbe and Goyle shrugged at each other and followed. Malfoy slipped past Pansy Parkinson who stood, open-mouthed at the insult. He had ignored her most of the evening-not this time! Stomping clumsily in heels too high for her, she chased Malfoy's retreating back.

"He hadn't actually promised yet." Nobody wanted to hear Luna's words.

"That was bloody brilliant, Hermione," Ron said in awe. "Too bad he didn't promise first though."

"Like that would have made any difference," Harry reminded his friend. "Malfoy's word is worth the parchment it's printed on."

"True enough."

On the outskirts of the group, a young girl bit her lower lip. Well, someone had to do it, and it may as well be her. They would all notice her; she hoped it wouldn't also get her expelled.

"I'll kiss Professor Snape," a high, quiet voice spoke out.

The cluster of students watched as a blond girl blinked up at them. She turned and walked determinedly towards the unsuspecting professor.

"Who is that?" someone asked.

"She's in Hufflepuff," Ernie Macmillan said. He turned to his fellow prefect Hannah Abbott. "That's, what, Nina?"

"Nia," Hannah said. "Polyhymnia Podgorny, one of our second years. Good marks all round, but shy."

"Oh my god," Parvati-or was it Padma?-gasped.

The girl looked very small and pink as she approached Professor Snape.

Currently, he was looking across the room wondering what the devil was going on with Mr. Malfoy and Miss Parkinson. The girl was dressed in a sequined red dress that she was far too young to be wearing. Far too heavy as well, it being one of those snug things that only stick-thin women could wear successfully; others tried and failed miserably. Pathetic, really. Malfoy was attempting to get away from her as she pecked at him like a harpy.

"Professor Snape?" A delicate voice drew his attention. He searched his brain for the name of the girl standing before him. She was quite small-first, no second year. Hufflepuff, not a complete idiot in Potions class. Classical name…

"It's Polyhymnia Podgorny, Professor. They call me Nia." She flushed as recognition passed his eyes.

"Yes. Was there something, Miss Podgorny?" He spoke no louder than usual, despite the blasting music. She could hear him if she was paying attention, and she seemed to be.

"Well, yes, Professor. You see…" she nodded upwards and he followed her gaze, pupils dilating in the darkness._Mistletoe _

He barely registered what it was before he felt a quick peck on his cheek.

"Happy New Year, Professor Snape," Nia said, before she blushed and walked away.

Snape didn't follow her. He didn't yell after her or even get up. Totally gobsmacked. He sat, blinking in confusion, until Professor Sinistra stood in front of him saying that he could return to the staff table now, his shift of student supervising was up.

In the corner, twenty or so students watched wide-eyed as a petite girl in a rose-coloured dress calmly walked up and kissed the most feared professor in the school-on the cheek. But it was a KISS.

"Hey, where's she going?" Dean wondered aloud.

"Quick, get her before she runs off."

Nia wasn't returning to their group, but wandered in the other direction.

"Don't be so obvious, Ron," Hermione hissed.

"Yeah, do you want Snape to think we put her up to it?" Harry asked.

Ginny Weasley, meanwhile, had slowly meandered around to the far edge of the room to intercept Nia.

"Hey there," she said to the little second year girl.

"I did it, like I said."

Ginny smiled. "Yes. I saw. We all saw. But…well, you know how Professor Snape is, how frightened most students are of him. Are you, scared of him, I mean?"

"A little," Nia admitted.

"It doesn't show. Why did you do it? I'm sure you heard us all talking about it; what made you do it?"

"I'm not sure." Nia pursed her lips. She glanced at her shoes before looking up into Ginny's face. "I know who you all are, of course, and Draco Malfoy." She made a face that nearly caused Ginny to burst out laughing. "But it wasn't to try and impress you all or anything. I guess it's because it's the holidays and the professor looked so sad. He always looks sad, I think."

Ginny thought that Professor Snape almost always looked angry, or at least irritated, and said so.

"Maybe. But to me it looks like he's sad." Her expression told Ginny that Miss Podgorny was finished. She'd given her reason and Ginny could accept or reject it.

Nia turned and lost herself in a passing cluster of students, leaving Ginny to wend her way back to the corner and make her report.

xXxXx

Several floors up, four ghostly figures floated.

"I would not believe if I hadn't seen for myself," said Sir Nicholas to his compatriots, the other three house ghosts.

The Bloody Baron smiled. "That is only because you lost. It wasn't a Gryffindor."

"Yes, but a Hufflepuff?" Nick shook his head, causing it to wobble precariously.

"Members of my house are very under-appreciated," a smug voice intoned as the fat friar glided past.

xXx End xXx


End file.
